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Albert Einstein once said “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Ladies and gentlemen, I am insane.

Several months ago I decided to quite dealing with the folks over at newshounds.us.. If you’ve read this blog at all over the last several months, you know the background. If not, well it doesn’t really matter. Several months ago I decided that after months of trying to find some shred of common sense in dealing with these folks, and not finding it, I decided to stop hitting my head against the wall, and move on.

Why did I even let it go as far as it did? I don’t know, I guess I like a challenge, and I really believe that there has to be some sense of right and wrong, some sense of… I don’t know, desire for knowledge, truth, fairness? Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the stands the hounds took were always wrong. On the contrary, several of them I agreed with 100%.

You see, the “mission” Of the hounds is to hold Fox news accountable, and expose them when they are wrong. Well, at least that’s what they say they stand for. The truth is, they’re going to disagree with anything anyone on Fox – or on the right, for that matter – says or does.

And I’m not saying that there aren’t plenty on the right who do the exact same thing regarding the left, because there certainly are. I think what interested me about the hounds wasn’t there views – like I said, there are plenty of pig-headed ideologues out there on both sides of the fence. No, it was more their tactics. Look, anytime you get a group of folks arguing about politics, especially in the somewhat anonymous nature of the internet, it soon snowballs into childish insults and name calling. That’s nothing new.

But with the hounds, it doesn’t snowball….. it starts there. And hey, sometimes the target deserved it. I’m sure that on several occasions, especially towards near the end of my dealings with these folks, I deserved it. But I was used to dealing with more mature folks before I stumbled on the hounds. I was used to discussions where one person said “I really think that (whatever issue) is blah, blah, blah…”, and the next person would come in with “No, I disagree. what you’re missing is the fact that….”, and then the other person would come back with their rebuttal, and so on. Sometime the arguments got heated, sometimes they got nasty, but usually the two parties either came a little closer to understanding each other, or at least “agreed to disagree”.

But at houndland, anyone expressing disagreement was immediately met with “listen asshole…” or some similar attack, regardless of whether they had a valid point or not. Truthfully, from the beginning I realized what a waste of time these folks were, but at the same time I was intrigued. My goal in trying to open debate is not that in the end I’m going to convert everyone to my point of view, but rather to discover what leads to their point of view, and see if there maybe isn’t an angle I’m missing.

So like I said, I was banging my head on the wall and decided that any real debate was never going to happen, so I moved on. And then something big (well, maybe not that big) happened: Weinergate. You see, Rep. Weiner is kinda a folk hero to these folks, and given how gleefully they attack any right-winger caught in a sex scandal, I was curious of their take on Weiner. Of course I could have saved the time. Hell, I could have written the scenario myself: Deny he did it, in fact he was set up (probably by Fox), and once he confessed ignore the earlier claims he was innocent, and move onto the “it’s nobody’s business but his own” meme.

And that turned into my (stupidly) commenting on a couple of other things, and we’re back where we were before. But then something amazing, and at the same time wonderful happened: Stephen Lengyel, aka Count Istvan posted another of his little hit pieces on me, along with his signature “get every fact wrong and throw in more lies” M.O. If you’ve read the earlier pieces, you know the “lies” moved from childish to libelous, and I couldn’t ignore him.

Of course I gave him just what he wanted, attention. My own damn fault. And after asking him to provide just one shred of evidence to back up his claims, he went silent. Well, not before bringing in the newshounds resident nut case, Aria, to back him up. Like I said in a previous piece, bringing in Aria to prove you’re telling the truth is like bringing in Casey Anthony for parenting advice. Actually, that’s not a fair comment… Casey Anthony is much more stable than Aria.

But I think the count did me a real favor. First, by make claims that were so outrageous, and then by proving them false by not even attempting some lame-ass deeper lie to prove them (ala Aria), he reminded me exactly what kind of lunatic fringe I was dealing with. And second, by bringing in Aria he just jump-started the crazy factor.

Look, I don’t know the count, or any of these other hounds, from Adam. He could be a decent guy, he could be a jerk. I don’t know. Truthfully, I think he and I share more in common than you might think, including a similar taste in music and film (sometimes). I wish him well, I really do. And if he wants to keep attacking someone he doesn’t know, and someone he’s already proven that he has no real knowledge of, then knock yourself out Count.

As for the hounds, the real truth is I want them to keep on doing exactly what they are doing, which is devoting their entire lives to criticizing a television channel. The truth is, as many of you know, the Rupert Murdoch empire “NewsCorp” (the parent company to Fox News, among others) is in some very serious trouble right now due to some illegal activities in the UK. Will it hit Fox? Who knows, but even if it’s proven that none of these activities took place at Fox (and I’m not saying they did or didn’t, but we will find out), we could see the Murdoch empire vastly changed.

And while I don’t ever see Fox going away, it is possible that it leaves Murdoch’s hands. But lets take it to the extreme, lets assume this scandal destroys all that is Murdoch, and Fox News ceases to exist. Will there be celebration at NewsHounds? Boy you know there will be. Will they take credit for it? Knowing those ego’s, I’m sure they will. Will they move on? I’m not sure they would know how to.

But the reality is this: If that were to happen, after all of the champagne has been drank, after all of the confetti has been swept up, the truth will hit them: This empire fell without one single one of their efforts contributing. That means that for the last several years they could have spent their time enjoying nature, making friends, developing relationships, and living lives that actually meant something, and Fox STILL would have fallen. In the end, the hours, days, weeks and years that they devoted to hate, all of the vile that the spilled (some of which surely sunk into their souls), all of that wasted time, meant nothing.

And like I said, I hope it continues, because as vile as this group is capable of being, at least they are corralled in their own little universe, away from the real world where the rest of us would have to deal with them. And the karma of all of this is one day they will realize all of the potential they wasted on this journey. Thank you for showing me that, left unchecked, I could have ended up just like you two. Actually, I hate to compare you two: Count, I think you still have a shot at living a full and productive life, and actually enjoying life. My advice, focus more on the things you get enjoyment out of – Sinatra, the Huskers, a fine cigar – and don’t let the extreme right suck the life out of you. As for Aria, well there’s no hope for Aria, she’s a psychotic episode waiting to happen. I would not be surprised if we see her creepy smile plastered on the front of Time someday, ala Jarod Loughner.

And for that, I have the Count and Aria to thank for making my journey back into this world short lived. Today I could spend the entire day sitting at this computer, picking apart the insanity that is a daily occurence over there, and who knows, it’s possible that I could have done just that. Instead, I think I’ll try to hit the golf course this afternoon (if the rain stops), grill a nice steak on the grill, and throw The Godfather on the big screen tonight.

Yep, life is good, but only if you rid yourself of all it’s little annoyances.

Warning: Possibly the longest post I have ever written, and that is saying a lot. Continue….

For those of you who have not been following the saga over at Stephen Lengyel’s, aka “Count Istvan”, blog, “Banned and Dangerous Ministries”, and given Stephen’s readership I’d say that’s pretty much all of you, I am proud to say that the old count himself has decided to throw in the towel regarding the asinine comments he recently made about yours truly, something we all knew was coming (since none of the accusations had a shred of truth to them), it was just a guessing game as to how he would bow out.

One other thing. My response to Stephen includes the line “..lets start counting the minutes before the count hits “delete”. And folks, if you’re reading this on my blog and not the counts, that is exactly what he did.”

But the truth is, the count DID leave my response on his post, despite a history of instantly deleting my posts, along with the posts of anyone who disagrees with him. So why repost it, if in fact it’s still posted at “banned and dangerous” (at least it is as of this writing)? I’ll explain in a moment.

Here is my response:

“…I guess Bob answered this thread no here of course”. Gee, and why not here? I guess it couldn’t have anything to do with the “If and when I see your posts they will be erased” policy, could it? Well, it sounds like you’re inviting me to respond, so lets see if you have the balls to actually leave the response up, or do the chickenshit thing and dump it.

Look, I’m not going to go over all the embarrassing misinformation in this and previous posts, although I do like you showing concern for my losing a job I never held. No, I address all of the inconsistencies in your “reporting” already, but I do have to address a couple of your new accusations.

Look, you want to call me an ass, want to call me stupid, or any other childish insult, then knock yourself out. Kinda par for the course for a hound. And hey, even though you couldn’t be more wrong, I’ve even come to accept “racist” from the hounds, because the left call anyone who disagrees with them “racist”, so that “insult”
has pretty much lost any punch.

But I have to say, I take great offense at “White Supremacist”. Oh sure, again I know that it’s just a lame attempt to make me look like something I’m not, but when you add to that that I “hacked other people’s social pages. His friends plus most likely himself like to steal identities and posts on message boards.”, you’re leaving childish insults behind and flirting with real actionable libel. Well, kind of. Sure, writing shit like this, making false accusations about someone is libel…. But then again it’s on your blog, so I guess for it to be real libel someone would have to read it.

Now I could ask for a retraction or an apology, like that would ever happen, but I want to go a different route. Instead, I’d like to ask you to prove your accusations. Hey, If I’m any of these things you claim I am, it shouldn’t be that hard. Now granted, the “stealing identities and posting on message boards” is a little vague, since you didn’t 100% claim I did, just that I most likely did. (By the way, who are these “friends” you refer to? Folk I don’t know that have commented on my blog? Hell, using that logic you and I are best buds?)

The way I see it, there are four options here? 1) You retract and/or apologize. Yeah, not putting too much money on that bet. 2). You delete my response. THAT’S the one I’m betting on. (in which case I’ll just post it on my blog, so that any hounds stumbling on it can see you couldn’t back your claims up, which is just as good as admitting they’re lies.) 3), You give a lame ass response, providing “proof” that’s as lame (probably lamer) then all the other mistakes you’ve made, or 4) you actually prove your accusations. That’s a zero bet as well, since none of these accusations have the slightest bit of truth.

And hey count, if you are going to try to lie your way through this, lets see if you can be a little more creative than Aria, who “proved” that I’m a sexist by pointing out that I “only” comment on posts at newshounds written by women. Of course I have commented on posts written by male writers, but Aria failed to point out that 95+% of the posts are written by women, and conveniently ignored my disagreements with Nayef, Visitor, Doo-Dah, Brockman, and of course you dear count.

And yes, there was one time I used the anonymous option to post on your blog, hardly stealing an identity. As for hacking, never happened. Oh, unless you’re thinking about the attempt Aria made to hack into my Facebook account. Nope, what you’re referring to is the time I went to Aria’s Facebook page…. Which was set to “public” at the time. Not exactly hacking when anyone has access.

As for the White Supremacist comment, lets see, where did you get that idea from. Lets see, was it my calling Obama every racial slur in the book? Well, since I never have, that couldn’t be it. My repeated use of the “N” word? Nope, I never use that word – I find it vile – so that can’t be it. My posts discussing my admiration for Dr. Martin Luther King? Well that doesn’t make sense.

I know, my work with Habitat for Humanity, right? Wait, the last three houses I assisted on were for African-American families, so THAT doesn’t sound like the actions of a white supremacist, does it. Or the two spring breaks in Mexico building homes for the poor. But hey, that was in High School, so I’ve had plenty of time to turn to the dark side, I guess. Or is it my membership in the NAACP? Yep, I have a membership in the NAACP.

But hey, here I am trying to take away all of your glory… No, let’s leave the proof to the great count. Or, more likely, lets start counting the minutes before the count hits “delete”. And folks, if you’re reading this on my blog and not the counts, that is exactly what he did.

Oh, one last thing. The count ended his last comment with “Bob and his crowd would probably not try anything with me.” Try
anything? Do you really think that you are significant enough that I would want to “try anything”? Well, it must be wonderful to have such an ego, but count, if you were standing across the street I wouldn’t bother crossing it to “try anything”. No, seeing you live your pitiful little life is good enough for me. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

P.S. Bonus points for proving my employment at the West Des Moines (or any Iowa) Borders.

Your move….

So the reason I decided to post this here after all is two-fold. First, I gave four possible scenario’s of how I thought the count would respond, but ever the unpredictable,
the count came up with a fifth: Leave the response, and just ignore it. Okay, I guess I could have seen that coming, and considering ignoring the call for him to explain his outlandish claims is basically the same as admitting he has nothing to back up his claims, well I’ll take that.

Secondly, not only does the count bring in world famous liar Aria Prescott to back him up (which is kind of like bringing in Casey Anthony to give parenting tips) – more on her later, he continues to throw out additional false claims, and this time he does not allow discussion. So I will respond here.

The simple truth is this: If the count had ANY shred of evidence that I was a white supremacist (or even a mild racist), that I hacked social networks, or that I have ever posted on his blog or anyone else’s as anyone other than myself, he’d produce it. He’d be a damn fool not to.

Look, suppose I in turn made the accusation that the count was – and this is not an accusation, merely a hypothetical example – lets say a meth user (as opposed to “crack whore”, which he once claimed my 14 year old daughter would turn into), would you believe me? Probably not, and why should you, I’ve produced no evidence at all to back up that claim. And despite repeated calls to put up or shut up, the best I can come up with is something like “well, read his ramblings, only a meth head would write that”, you’re less likely to be swayed.

But what if I really, truly DID have proof (again, this is hypothetical. While I do not know the count personally, I very much doubt he is a meth head), solid proof, like for example a link to his arrest by the Omaha Police Dept for Meth possession, don’t you think I’d put that link up in a heartbeat? And yet you still find Istvan’s lack of any attempt to back up his claims reasonable.

Hell, the guy can’t even get my employment right, despite repeated denial that I have never worked for Borders in Iowa. In response to the above posted rebuttal, the count writes “From your own Blog you state you are a manager of a Borders bookstore and you live in Ankeny which is Des Moines. Seeing as how the only Borders in the Des Moines Area is The West Borders store it was a horrible assumption on my part”

Shortly after the count wrote that, I responded with a simple request. Not a “War and Peace” response, as this one is becoming, but a simple request: Show me in the blog where I state that I am currently, or was EVER the manager of a Borders outside of California. And respond the count did, he deleted that comment immediately.

Now put yourself into the counts shoes. You have a link to my own blog where I state I manage the West Des Moines (or any other Iowa) Borders. You don’t use that? I’d have that up in a heartbeat. The count didn’t.

Now, I do want to give the count a little bit of credit for some quasi-detective work here. On my blog, on February 17th , I lament the news that Borders has declared bankruptcy, and they will be closing 200 stores. Two days later, I write an article about the Wisconsin budget battle, and then I go dark for 4 months. The count writes “After his store was closed he stopped posting on his blog for a few months though he never admitted he was unemployed”

So the count is using my loss of a job (the I never had or lost) as a reason to quit blogging for a while. Actually, that makes sense, or at least provides a reason to go blank. But there are a couple of problems with that class B detective work. First, I had already announced I was trying to move away from dealing with hounds (and now I remember why). Second, in my discussion of the Borders closings (found here: https://planetofbob.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-but-not-necessarily-in-that-order/) I comment that the closings “especially hits me hard because I used to be a manager of Borders in California.” USED TO BE Count, not I AM, but I USED TO BE.

And finally, at the time that the original list of store closings was announced, the West Des Moines store was not on the list. It was almost two months later that the Des Moines store was announced to be closing, due to an inability between Borders and the landlord to renegotiate the lease. So according to the count, I went into mourning for my job two months before I even knew it was being lost. Just like the count wrote: ” Isn’t it funny how as soon as the news broke of Borders closing some stores including yours…(oops my bad again sorry) you went silent for three months?” Except again, I went silent two months before anyone ever knew the West Des Moines store would close.

So the count “moves on”, allowing my original rebuttal, but refusing anything else, like a request to clarify his mistakes. He adds: “From here on out if Bob wants to write any more chapters of War and Peace he can do so at Planet Boob. However I am keeping these posts up for Comedy value.” I love this comment. The first being the Oscar
Wilde-like wit and charm of the count. “Planet Boob”. I’m still chuckling. Tell me dear count, where does one develop such a wit? Oxford? Yale? You must be a hoot at all the spring cotillions. And I especially love the “I am keeping these posts up for comedy value” remark. Not because the proper term is “comedic value”, but because the host truly doesn’t realize that the real butt of the joke is himself, for all but admitting his lies by failing to offer up even the weakest of responses.

And speaking of “weakest of responses”, lets move on to Aria. I want to include Aria’s entire contribution here, and then we’ll discuss it. It really isn’t that long:

“Or is it my membership in the NAACP? Yep, I have a membership in the NAACP.”

Lets start with “1) I would like to provide evidence, but every time I try it just gets deleted because the moderators hate being proven wrong. Reply: So post it on your blog… Your reply: Fuck you.”

Well, as we’ve already observed, she’s right about the deletion, which is the count’s M.O.. However, she implies that should she then reply “So post it on your blog”, I would reply….. well, with a rather vulgar term that seemingly flows off of Aria’s lips (and honestly, that’s pretty tame by her ladylike standards). But in fact I did reply Aria, without the vulgarity.

Which brings us to her second claim of how I will handle this: I don’t have to prove a damned thing. If I’m wrong, you have to prove I am to my satisfaction, even though the burden of proof’s on me.

Now I have to admit, that line of reasoning sounds familiar. Now why is that? Why indeed. Oh wait, I’ve got it, because that’s the way Aria handles every request to back up any one of her monumental whoppers.

Just for sheer enjoyment, go to this exchange that Aria and I had over at the newshounds site, with a few comments by the hound regulars thrown in. Not a friendly environment for old Bob at all. The basis of the thread is this. For months Aria had been telling monumental lies about me, really biblical in proportion, so I called her on it, laying out a dozen or so lies that she had told. In this exchange she was unable to back up even one of her claims, although she did succeed in laying down several more. Oh, there were several “I already proved that..” comments coming from Miss Aria, although none with any link to where she actually had. If you read through the whole thread – and it is a long one – you will not find a single instance of her actually providing any proof. The thread is here: http://forum.newshounds.us/viewtopic.php?t=40752

Okay, so the count calls me a White Supremacist, and the burden of proof is on me to prove I’m not, is that what you’re saying Aria? Or do you just want proof that I have donated to and am a member of the NAACP? Why do you find that so hard to believe Aria, do you really dislike the organization that much?

Now the truth is, I could post an autographed picture of myself and Ben Jealous – President of the NAACP – on which Ben had written “Thanks for all the hard work Bob”, and Aria wouldn’t accept it, but hey, I am nothing if not giving.

How about an e-mail, addressed to me, from the organization, and e-mail that goes out to it’s members:

Yeah, maybe not good enough. After all, it’s dated July 20th, the same day I made the outrageous claim that I was a member. I mean hey, I could have joined up right after making the claim, just to cover my ass, right?

So how about another shot of my inbox, showing the same e-mails going back several weeks:

That good enough for you Aria? Count?

So I put up, do you want to do the same? Excuse me if I don’t hold my breath while waiting…

Oh, and as for my writing a “hit piece” on you Aria, why should I bother. I could never show you to be the true nut case that you are any better than you do by opening your mouth, but if you want to have another go at proving any of your claims, after the count is unable to prove his, feel free. And have a nice day.

P.S. Boy, I must be slipping. Despite the fact that this was lead in the count’s original story, I can’t believe this slipped by me for this long. The count started out his original piece by saying “I was not going to blog again about that idiot Bob Peters because honestly he isn’t worth the space….” Okay, I get it, I’m insignificant and unworthy of the counts time. AND YET he posts a blog about me – well, not really ME, but someone he thought might be me. But where did this information come from. Obviously the count was doing a Google search, and a semi deep one, since this info doesn’t pop up on the first page. Ewww. I’m insignificant, and yet the count is doing searches about me. I guess we can add “obsession” to the long list of the counts many charms. I’ll put it right after his Oscar Wilde wit.

No in-depth analysis of the debt ceiling crisis or blueprints to Middle-East peace today, just a couple of comments on a couple of recent tidbits in the news the last few days.

First, a big Kudos to my congressman, Rep. Leonard Boswell. I guess now that Schwarzenegger has left politics, we need a new kick-ass in government, and I nominate Leonard. Last Saturday night two thugs broke into Boswells Iowa farm and attacked him and his family. The intruder put a gun to the head of Boswell’s daughters head (turns out it was a bb gun, but apparently a very realistic one), and when she screamed, the Congressman entered the room and tackled the intruder. Now that’s pretty cool, even cooler when you consider Boswell is 77 years old. No, that’s not a misprint. Leonard is 77 years old, and he tackled an armed intruder. Want to hear something even more surprising? Boswell is a Democrat. Now that may not mean much, and maybe it shouldn’t, but the rest of the story is that the intruder was scared off when Boswell’s grandson entered the room with a rifle and frightened the intruder off (the second criminal master-mind was waiting in the “getaway car”).

You just know that the fact that this crime was thwarted by an armed-citizen – an armed DEMOCRATIC citizen – has to piss the left off. And outside the fact that Boswell is 77 years old, this really should not be too much of a surprise for anyone who knows the Congressman. Boswell spent twenty years in the United States Army. He was first drafted in the Army in 1956 as a private. He later graduated from Artillery Officers Candidate School, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During his military career he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars, the Soldier’s Medal, and various other awards and decorations. He served two one-year tours of duty as an assault helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He also served two NATO tours of duty in Europe. (from wikipedia)

Boswell also has an “A” rating from the NRA and is pro-gun and pro-Second Amendment rights. In 2010 I voted for Boswell, although he was not my original choice. However, when the nuttier side of his opponent, Brad Zahn, came out, Leonard became the obvious choice. And last Saturday night he may have secured my second vote for him. Bravo Leonard.

And Bravo to the press too. While it would be all too easy to start saying this is another right wing attack on the left, I think the press may have learned something from the Tucson tragedy and the consequences of jumping the gun. I would however suggest going over the Huffington Post and reading about the attack. Oh not the article, HuffPo actually did a nice straight reporting job there, but the comments. Here’s one of my favorites: “All the intruder wanted was money. (Article says that’s all he asked for.) Probably down on his luck and out of a job thanks to George Bush, Cheney/Hal­liburton, and global warming’s destruction­n of the Iowa farm economy. The granddaughter should have just handed the cash over instead of making such a fuss. Nothing worth anyone get shot over.”

While I agree 100% with the “nothing worth anyone getting shot over” comment, the rest of the comment is a hoot. While the dig at Bush is not unexpected – it is the “go to” comment for the lunatic fringe of the left – you have to give him points for working in Halliburton and Cheney, not to mention global warming. Of course, the fact that Iowa’s Farm economy is booming kinda hurts the attack, but when have facts ever been a concern for the left. Again, way to go Leonard

Yhe next item I want to discuss comes from a recent court ruling. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that conviction Tuesday of Walter Bagdasarian, who was found guilty two years ago of making threats against a major presidential candidate (then Senator-Obama) in comments he posted on a Yahoo website on Oct. 22, 2008. The observation that Obama “will have a 50 cal in the head soon” and a call to “shoot the [racist slur]” weren’t violations of the law under which Bagdasarian was convicted because the statute doesn’t criminalize “predictions or exhortations to others to injure or kill the president,” said the majority opinion written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt.

I’m a huge supporter of free speech, and while I don’t think all speech (such as threats) should be protected, I think you need to be very, very careful in taking away those rights. The basic point the court was taking here is that saying you are going to kill someone is a threat (and not protected speech), but wishing someone else would do it, is not. Kind of a gray area, in my mind. And I do agree that there is a difference, but I also see these comments as not just a desire to see something happen, but almost a prodding to make it happen. Sorry, but I have zero tolerance for anyone making a threat against anyone, especially public servants, and I save my most righteous indignation for anyone making a threat against the president. Sorry, it’s just uncalled for, and I think the courts got this one wrong.

One last thing. Apparently the man was drunk when he did it. Sorry, but that doesn’t matter (unless of course a group of hooligans held him down and forced liquor down his throat).

Finally, R.I.P. to former Bond actress Angela Scoular, who died after drinking acid cleaner over the weekend. Without getting into too many of the details, Scouler had some serious health and mental issues, and it is just a very, very sad situation.

The actress is actually a two-time Bond girl. Kinda. She first landed the role of Buttercup in the 1966 Bond spoof Casino Royale and was Ruby Bartlett in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969. The later is actually one of my favorite of the bond films, which is a little sacrilegious given that this was the single Bond outing for George Lazenby, not the greatest of actors, but still a very enjoyable film.

Rest in Peace Angela…… I hope you have found the peace you so deserve.

Oops, one more thing. Actually, another “Rest in Peace” kinda, but this one is to a company, not a person. It was recently announced that Border’s Books, who earlier this year filed for bankruptcy and closed several stores, will now be closing the remaining 300 stores. This is especially sad for me, as I once worked for Borders, managing their San Luis Obispo branch before moving back to Iowa. In February, when the first wave of closings were announced, I wrote the following:

“I am a proponent of the free market system, and in a free market situations like this do occur. The industry, just like several dozen other industries, is changing, and those who don’t change with it will get left in the dust. And Borders was slow to react to the changes in the industry.

Amazon.com and discount sellers such as Costco and Walmart have hurt Borders, and Borders’ lateness to e-commerce and e-reader sales has been detrimental. Amazon.com offered online sales in 1995, but the Borders e-commerce site was only introduced in 2008. And while Amazon introduced the e-reader Kindle in 2007 and Barnes and Noble brought out its Nook in late 2009, Borders didn’t enter the e-reader market with its Kobo until July 2010. While I doubt that faster action in the online and e-reader markets would have stopped Borders from any store closings, it may have reduced the number from the 200 that are currently on the chopping block.

Add to that the fact that Borders also specialized in movies and music – two other industries that have changed drastically in the last few years, and it didn’t take Nostradamus to see this coming.

I am happy to say that my old store in San Luis Obispo is not one of the stores that will be closing, but there are stores in my old district that will get the axe, and I have a number of friends at these locations that will be affected. I hope that a number of them are able to find work at the nearby stores. And, selfishly, I am also comforted by the fact that none of the Iowa Borders will be closing, so I will still be able to enjoy shopping at my favorite bookstore.”

Now the fact is that while I wrote that none of the Iowa stores were closing in the spring, we actually did lose the West Des Moines store due to the inability to re-negotiate the lease. I guess that it wouldn’t be a big deal after all, just delayed the closing a couple of months. But the truth remains that I still have a number of friends at my old California store, and I am very, very sad for their pending unemployment. I hope that it is short lived, and that they all land on their feet soon. It was a pretty industrious bunch, I think they’ll all do well.

And I’m assuming that it won’t be too long before the closing is blamed on Bush, and now maybe even Halliburton, Cheney and Global Warming. Hey, I wouldn’t put it past them…..

I couple of days ago I posted about how Newshound Priscilla knowingly lied (or is incredibly, incredibly ignorant), when she stated that ACORN, or what ACORN has become, was not in fact receiving any government aid (since you know, that would be illegal). Now my issue here isn’t with Priscilla, or even the hounds themselves, but I did have a semi-lively conversation with “The Dreaded Patrick” (as he calls himself) regarding this issue. Actually, if the truth be told, we didn’t really address the issue much. Patrick started out with a number of childish insults, as hounds are prone to do, and while he wouldn’t come right out and say Priscilla had lied, he made no attempt to prove she hadn’t. After all, that would have required research, something the hounds are not real keen on.

Patrick did go on to say he hopes that ACORN is receiving funds, and that he hopes they are using those funds to “destroy” Fox news, and added that Media Matters keeps getting their funding to stop Fox as well. Funny how the left likes to call the right “Fascists”, but their big fans of fascism when the target is the right.

Anyhow, long story short, all Pat could do was continue to fling a few baseless, and pretty damn weak, insults and claims that have no foundation, and then accused me of lying. About what, I’m not sure. When asked to clarify exactly what I’m lying about, well, that’s when Pat goes silent. And can you blame him? Accusations are easy, the truth is hard.

Which brings us the another hound, the ever amusing Stephen Lengyel, aka Count Istvan. As much as it’s hard to like the Count, at the same time it’s hard not to. How can you not have an appreciation for some one who is SO WRONG, and so often. The Count, for some reason, really, really doesn’t like me. Why? Well, part of it stems from issues he has had in the past with a guy who went by “Ranger Bob”, and then there was a “Suicide Bob”, and I think there might have even been another Bob or two, and dear Stephen seems to think I’m all of these Bob’s. I’m not of course, but these folks must have really pissed in his Corn Flakes.

And every now and then I venture over to one of the five or six blogs that the Count writes (the only one I know who has more blogs than readers), And recently Lengyel was opining about his concern that he has discovered that Bob Peters (my name) from Ankeny (my Town) was president of the local Little League, and he was shocked and appalled that it could possibly be me (it’s not), because according to the Count, I “befriend admitted pedophiles”, and on top of that, I am now a White Supremacist. The pedophile gag he’s been trying (unsuccessfully) to sell for months now, but I’m not exactly sure where the White Supremacist hack job came from. Oh well, like I’ve always said, if you’re a hound and you don’t have any substance, make shit up…. it’s not like the other hounds are going to check, right?

Stephen is also concerned about my welfare, because “Borders the book store Bob Peters works for filed for bankruptcy and one of the stores that they closed was the West Des Moines store that he managed. After his store was closed he stopped posting on his blog for a few months though he never admitted he was unemployed.”

Nice spin, except that I have never managed or worked for the Borders in Des Moines. Oh, I did used to work for Borders, three years ago in California, but I’m afraid not here. And you see, I’ve discussed my current employment numerous times in the past, so Lengyel has had ample opportunity to put together the right information, but I included this to show you just how competent this piece of… work really is.

As for his early blasts at me, again I can’t address what the Count is basing his white supremacist claim on. This is a new one, and I won’t even begin to try to guess what he is blaming this on. Other than of course it is a simple left-wing meme to call your opponent a racist if you have nothing else solid.

As for the “befriend admitted pedophiles”, this is of course not true, and ranks a close second to racism as a “go to” insult for the Kennel Krowd. And isn’t it odd that a man who admits to a passion for young boys sports (despite having no children), and a man whose blog gets WAY TO EXCITED about Harry Potter would call someone else a pedophile? Lets not forget the catch phrase of one of the Counts many unread blogs: “An Open Invitation For Everybody And Everything Who Bites Sucks And Or Blows“.

And getting back to Borders, I can see the count right now saying “Oh yeah, PROVE you weren’t the manager of the Des Moines Borders”. Fair enough, but how do you prove something like that? I mean, the store is closed, so it’s not like you can call there and ask for the Manager. I guess the next best thing would be to call the Ames, Iowa store and ask them who used to manage Des Moines. They are still open, and given that Ames is 30 miles north of Des Moines, I’m sure they had a working relationship, probably in the same district. Hell County, I’ll bet there are Border’s in Omaha, right? They were probably in the same district as well. Check it out.

Why bother? Really no reason to, other than to just be amazed at how someone with access to so much information can get things so, so wrong. And that’s when he’s trying… and half the time the hounds are just making it up as they go.

Oh, sure, just because you find something on the internet (or “Internets”, as President Obama says) doesn’t mean it’s factual, or even if it is factual, if it’s the RIGHT fact. Example? I’m pretty sure that, as the Count discovered, Bob Peters is the president of the local little league, just no this Bob Peters. And give the count credit, he actually asked whether it might be the same person, didn’t just assume (like he did with Border’s and my employment.)

Which brings us back to Priscilla and her false claim about Acorn. Look, on pretty much any political discussion, you can find what appears to be pretty solid information on either side of an issue. I can find you articles showing without a doubt that ACORN received no money, and I can find you articles proving it did. At this point, most folks let their ideology take over, stick with the article that reaffirms their position, and won’t even consider anything else. This is what Priscilla and later Patrick did, despite the fact that websites from the Obama administration itself showed 2011 contributions to ACORN.

But what if you can’t confirm whether the information is correct? Well, then it’s time to do a little detective work. For example, lets look at Stephen again. A search of his name shows on the site “Spokeo” that he lives on “X” street in Omaha. Obviously not “X” street, but lets protect his privacy. Is this the same Stephen? Hard to say, but it does say this Stephen is in his 30’s, and from posts on the counts blog, we do know he is in his 30’s. Getting closer. It also states that another person living at the house is named Rose. I’m pretty sure the count has mentioned a niece with the name rose, and while that is not the rose that lives with the count, it does show it to be a family name.

So the Spokeo entry probably for Stephen Lenyel probably is our dear Count. Which brings up an interesting point: The Count, on occasion, will discuss “The Countess”, which of course I assumed to be his wife, although I can never remember the man referring to his wife, only to “The Countess”. In a way, it’s sweet, putting your wife on such a pedestal. Or, it could just be self serving, building on his own egomaniacal need to consider himself “The Count.

But no, there is actually a third explanation. Apparent the Count, in his 30’s, still lives with Mom & Dad, and the “Countess” is in fact his mother. Now doesn’t THAT explain a lot?

Damn it, they did it, they sucked me back in. Oh well, when someone opens the door with an argument you could drive a truck through, it’s hard to pass it up. The good news is that a) the hounds still block out opposing views, so I don’t have to waste my time there rebutting inane comment after inane comment, and b) 95% of them are too chicken-shit to stray from the kennel and comment without the rest of the sheep there to back them up, so I don’t have to waste time with their inane comments here (although they are welcome at any time).

I just wanted to comment on a couple of recent discussions over at newshounds recently. No deep analysis, like I said, this stuff practically writes itself. As I have mentioned previously, Newshound “Kelstar” has penned the ideal description of the life of a hound: “I cannot imagine a life of picking fly sh!t out of the pepper just to fulfill a need to be constantly pissed off about something.”

Let’s see what today’s fly shit consists of. First, we have the huge and possibly campaigning ending mistake by Michelle Bachmann: She mispronounced “Chutzpah” According to head shit picker Ellen: “Bachmann made a fool out of herself to every Jew and probably everyone who’s ever known a Jew when she said President Obama “has a lot of ch-utzpah” and pronounced the “ch” the way it is in “church” instead of as in “challah.”

Look, lets get this out of the way right away, Bachmann DID mispronounce the word. I’m not going to try to do a Palin-revisionist “No, that’s the way it’s really pronounced…” half-assed attempt at an apology. But “made a fool out of herself to every jew and probably everyone who’s ever known a jew…”. Really Ellen, we’re not laying it on a little thick, are we? (Also, aren’t you insulting the Jews with the lowercase “j”?)

1) She brings up the fact that 69% of the American People do not want the debt ceiling raised, and that 63% think the country is heading in the wrong direction. 2) “I think it’s the president whose out of step…” 3) Bachmann explained (rightly) that in the event the debt limit is not raised, that seniors will in fact still receive their benefits – meaning Obama is either ignorant of how the social security payment system works, or is purposely trying to frighten old people. 4) Discussions of waste and fraud and “people milking the system” (usually a hound dog whistle). 5) “We have plenty of money to pay off the interest on the debt, we will not default” 6) Discussions of the downgrading of our credit rating. 7) “The President is playing politics, clearly” and finally 8) “The President doesn’t want to be confronted with priorities in spending, because he has a lot of ch-utzpah. He spent a trillion dollars on the stimulus, it failed. He spent a trillion and a half dollars a year on deficits that are his, and also, Obamacare – trillions of dollars – this is his spending, he’s got to own it and deal with it.”

ALL of that to choose from (and boy, I could find issue with a lot of it), and she picks a mispronunciation of a Yiddish word as her big “Gotcha”. Oops, Oops, wait a minute Ellen, I think that piece there was actually pepper….. Kinda reminds me of an old episode of Sanford and Son where Aunt Esther tells Fred (Redd Foxx) “You’re a stupid, lazy, fat, old fool”, to which Fred replies “Who you callin’ old?” I guess they couldn’t find any issue with Bachmann’s other comments.

The other angle I wanted to take is a comparison of this gaffe by Bachman, and a previous similar gaffe by the President. Back in February of last year, President Obama, at the National Prayer Breakfast, pronounced the word “Corpsman” wrong (twice), pronouncing it as “Corpse-man” instead of “Core-man”. Now, when this happened, Hannity harped on it on Fox, and the kennel went ballistic.

So what’s the difference? Do you think, in Ellen-speak, it would have been proper after the President’s gaffe to write “Obama made a fool out of himself to everyone in the military and probably everyone who’s ever known someone in the military when he pronounced “Corpsman” as …” Kind of a stupid comment, right.

Of course the hounds dumped on Hannity for daring to bring it up (I wonder if they’ll jump on Ellen for her daring to bring it up?), and in some pretty colorful ways, the classiest of which was “Well…”‘s comment that the President had to “wash the slime off his skin from having to speak at the National ‘Prayer’ breakfast” – Nice, huh? Of course some folks brought up the obvious fact that the press had a field day with Bush’s numerous flubs, which lead to the one truly sane comment to come out of a hound – Hoode said that “No one is defending Obama here, he &$#@ed up. We are mocking Hannity and his double standard. With all of the hundreds of verbal screw ups of Bush he never once mentioned one of them.

Now THAT is a valid point, not that Obama screwed up (he did), or that Bush screwed up (he did), but that FOX would bring to light and ridicule the former while ignoring the latter. THAT is actually a legitimate point. But, if you want to make that argument, you also have to acknowledge that NewsHounds is guilty of the exact same thing, in reverse. So Fox does it, it’s wrong. Newshounds does THE EXACT SAME THING, but it’s okay.

As a side note, several of the comments on Bachmann’s life-changing error are about her “Gay Husband”. I have to admit, I have never seen or heard Bachmann’s husband speak, so he could possibly come off as gay, although not that that would matter to the hounds. I’m amazed at how often the hounds will, if they disagree with you, accuse you of being gay, as if that is the ultimate insult. Not to mention their use of the word “faggot” as another form of insult. Look for it, they use this tactic A LOT.

Okay, that’s today’s Kibble, now for a few pieces of “bits”. Our fist comment – actually set of comments – comes from “Antoinette”, a delusional hound who thinks she is a big insider in the industry. In discussing the current Murdoch/Hacker scandal (which I have already stated that I hope all involved – including Murdoch – get all that can be legally thrown at them), she starts out with this: “Ruthless Rupy is a power-hungry, control-freak bastard. He calls ALL the shots inside News Corporation, and the suit in charge of a News Corporation subsidiary has no say whatsoever. It’s always has been about power and control for Rupy.” and later, in the exact same comment string, gives us this: “Rupy does not closely monitor every single News Corporation subsidiary (I think she meant “Subsidiary”). It’s too numerous. That’s left up to the suits in charge.”

Then, for some reason, she throws in this: “News Corporation subsidiaries (I think she meant “subsidiaries”) are housed in that skyscraper including Fox
“News” Channel, “Fox “Business” Channel, Wall Street Journal, Fox Interactive Media, Fox Radio, etc. News Corporation has a gym inside the building for employees who want to work out before or after their shifts. For security, News Corporation employees were ID badges. They have security in the building to keep an eye on things-and employees. There’s a lot of money invested in television equipment, including the state-of-art graphics used on Fox “News” Channel and high-end video cameras, lighting, and control room equipment, etc. Millions of dollars investe d in Fox”News” satellite trucks, private planes to shuffle people to various assignments, hotels, paid catering services, rented SUV to transport hosts back and forth to their hotels, rented space for makeshift studios, etc.”

So in other words, NewsCorp is like…. pretty much any other large corporation in America.

Next, we have proof that the hounds aren’t the only ones with comprehension issues. The hounds highlight a commentary by Keith Olbermann where he discusses how he was “Blackmailed” by Rupert Murdoch, except he wasn’t. Now I actually like Keith Olbermann. Oh, I disagree with him on just about everything, but I think the man is a great showman, and smooth operator, and a very intelligent man. I loved Olbermann on Sports Center even though his coworkers felt otherwise.

Olbermann told a story on TV the other night about working for FOX Sports. During his tenure, he had some health issues, was told he needed to cut back at work, and he told Fox that. They came back and said “okay, we can cut you back to “X” number of days, and drop your salary to “Y”. Olbermann agreed, even though the deal stunk. THIS was the so-called blackmail. Really Keith? For someone with your vocabulary, you’d think the man would understand the concept of blackmail. Was it a slimy business deal? Yup. Was it blackmail? Hardly.

And in closing, a quick shout out to my hound buddy Nayef, who proved once again that reading comprehension is not his strong suit. A few posts back I discussed how Nayef was duped into believing some pretty clearly written satire, despite the fact that is said in the article itself it was satire. Nayef today responds that “Recently I posted something here which was wrong; somebody replied saying it was satire not real news. So I acknowledged that and said the article was silly. Today I check the old troll and he was deriding me for both the post and the admission it was wrong.”

No Nayef, I wasn’t deriding you for admitting you were wrong. I merely stated that when you were alerted it was a hoax you stated “Yes after checking the article again and trying to find sources, it turned out to be a hoax; quite tasteless too and serves absolutely no service”. My point was, when Nayef thought the story was real, he not only didn’t find it tasteless, but he offered to write a story on it for newshounds. What I’m deriding Nayef for is his shear hypocrisy. And still he can’t see that. Would have been surprised if he could have.

You know, with regards to the whole Debt Ceiling debate, rather than share my thoughts, I’d just like to say this. I’m with Obama. Politics aside, I have to agree 100% with our President. For example, I agree 100% with the president when he said, in 2006 (as Senator Obama):

“The fact that we’re here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign — is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership means the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

And I also agree 100% with the President, who in 2009, said this:

“The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession, because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole.”

And that last comment came when GDP was growing about three times fastr than it is now. Yup, I agree 100% with the President.

I know, I know, I’m turning back into the old website, going after NewsHounds for their blatantly false, lop-sided lies. Well, today I decided to try to respond directly to the houns on one of their posts stating the right (and FOX in particular), were lying about ACORN receiving federal funding, even though laws have been passed prohibiting any federal dollars to go to ACORN, or any organazation that has morphed out of ACORN.

Now honestly, I think ACORN got the shaft. Yes, they were guilty of some scummy things, and they should have been made to answer to those things. However, the organization also does a lot of good, or did. Well, considering they’re still receiving federal funding, I guess maybe they still are. Unless they’re not receiving Federal Funding, which Priscilla tells us their not. She provides no proof to attack the claims that they are – including pretty damning proof from the government’s own website, but hey, Priscilla’s never told a lie, right?

But one last question Priscilla, and this one is rhetorical: Why are you afraid to have an honest discussion with someone who disagrees with you?

Anyway, here is the comment I wrote to NewsHounds, which they denied:

NewsHound Priscilla states: “a right wing rumor, thanks to the right wing Scaife funded site Judicial Watch, has surfaced which claims that ACORN members are getting secret monies from a DOJ grant to the Afforadable (sp) Housing Centers of America. It’snot true.”

According to in Public Law 111-117 (PDF), written to directly apply to HUD, ACORN is banned from receiving any government funding. A portion of the law reads:

Division A – Section 418. None of the funds made available under this Act or any prior Act may be provided to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations. [p. 80 of PDF]

But wait, there’s more…. It seems that HUD also gave ACORN $461,086 in January of this year, under HUD’s self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP). According to Fox News? Nope, according to USAspending.gov, a government run website. USAspending.gov identifies the recipient as “ACORN Housing Corporation Inc.” even though that nonprofit entity filed papers last year legally changing its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA).

The website also provides the address of record for ACORN Housing as 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana. That’s the renovated funeral home that until recently served as headquarters for ACORN’s 370-plus shady affiliates.

Now, does this PROVE the government gave funds to ACORN, or at least to the name ACORN is going as today? Well, I have to admit that it seems pretty damning. Sure, this could be
a scam, an totally illegitimate, however it seems to me that if that were the case, Newshounds would have to provide a little more proof than Priscilla’s “It’s not true” defense.

I also have to take task with the claim “ACORN was exonerated of any wrong doing”. In
fact, to date some 70 Acorn employees in 12 states have been convicted of voter registration fraud. In 2007 the group settled thelargest case of voter fraud in the history of Washington State after seven workers were caught submitting about 2,000 fake registration forms.

Is ACORN as evil as Fox or Breitbart would have you believe? In my opinion, no. I think this is basically a good organization with a few bad apples. BUT, is ACORN as squeaky clean as
the hounds would have you believe? The answer there is also no.

So Priscilla, my question to you is simple. If in fact ACORN – or whatever name or names the organization goes by today – has received no funding from the government, as the current law states (fairly or unfairly), PROVE that the claims that Fox or Judicial Watch are making is wrong. And have the balls to stand up to the fact that ACORN has acted illegally in the past. Those actions do not merely justify, again, in my opinion, the harsh treatment that ACORN has received, BUT failure to acknowledge the truth removes any credibility you may have.